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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28112517">The Red Thread of Fate</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mspfriend/pseuds/Mspfriend'>Mspfriend</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Threads Series [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst and Hurt/Comfort, BAMF James Potter, BAMF Lily Evans Potter, Drama &amp; Romance, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Eventual James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Gryffindor vs. Slytherin Rivalry, Hogwarts, Hurt/Comfort, James Potter is a Good Friend, M/M, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Marauders Friendship (Harry Potter), POV James Potter, POV Lily Evans Potter, Severus Snape Bashing, Sirius Black &amp; James Potter Friendship, Slow Burn, The Whomping Willow Incident</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 22:53:49</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,716</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28112517</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mspfriend/pseuds/Mspfriend</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Lily Evans’ life is perfect, excluding the fact that her sister hates her and her friendship with Severus Snape is falling apart. On the other hand, James Potter is a hot mess, but at least his social life is better than ever. The two have been rivals ever since first year, but with overlapping friend groups and similar interests, they find themselves spending more time together than ever before. For a while, it seems like they might be able to get along after all. Then James gets feelings and everything becomes complicated. </p><p>Follows the marauders 5th-7th years.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Alice Longbottom &amp; Lily Evans Potter, Alice Longbottom/Frank Longbottom, Euphemia Potter/Fleamont Potter, Fabian Prewett &amp; Gideon Prewett, Fabian Prewett/Original Female Character(s), Filius Flitwick &amp; James Potter, Filius Flitwick &amp; Lily Evans Potter, Frank Longbottom &amp; Fabian Prewett &amp; Gideon Prewett, James Potter &amp; Lily Evans Potter, James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, James Potter/Original Female Character(s), Lily Evans Potter &amp; Horace Slughorn, Lily Evans Potter &amp; Original Female Character(s), Lily Evans Potter &amp; Severus Snape, Lily Evans Potter/Original Male Character(s), Marlene McKinnon &amp; Lily Evans Potter, Minerva McGonagall &amp; James Potter, Minerva McGonagall &amp; Lily Evans Potter, Original Male Character/Original Male Character, Petunia Evans Dursley/Vernon Dursley, Remus Lupin/Mary Macdonald, Sirius Black &amp; James Potter, Sirius Black &amp; Remus Lupin &amp; Peter Pettigrew &amp; James Potter, Sirius Black/Original Female Character(s)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Threads Series [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2059773</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Red Thread of Fate</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Lily was really beginning to worry, when a voice behind her asked, “need a hand?” Lily was torn between dread and relief when she turned to find James Potter standing behind her. </p>
<p>The two of them weren’t exactly what Lily would have called friends. Friendly rivals was a better term for it. Although they belonged to the same general friend group, they didn’t spend enough time together without several other friends present to ever really bond, and they were both strong personalities that tended to grate on each other's nerves. Lily viewed James as too arrogant, and James saw her as too uptight. The fact that James and Severus had hated each other since first year also hadn’t helped. </p>
<p>Normally, she wouldn’t have accepted his offer of help. However, they were approaching three minutes and Lily and Severus really didn’t have the time or the strength to do it themselves. “Grab and lift,” she told him. Severus stepped away, glaring. Clearly, he would not work alongside James. It was lucky, then, that they managed without him. It also made him look even angrier, if that was possible.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The first of September, 1975, was a Monday, and if that wasn’t a sign from above about the general course of the following school year, Lily didn’t know what was.</p><p>Not, of course, that Lily believed in the big man upstairs. It was kind of a consequence of going to a magical school in the middle of nowhere, Scotland, where people cursed in Merlin’s name and hats had the ability to discern the fundamental nature of eleven-year-olds. One tended to discard the basic notions of theism and divinity when witnessing and performing what was regarded by the general public as impossible feats of magic was the everyday norm.</p><p>Her alarm went off at seven o’clock, which was much too early in her opinion. Lily was of the belief that no morning was a good morning, and the fact that modern society required people to get out of bed before at least ten o’clock was one of the greatest injustices of the world. Perhaps an even greater injustice, though, was the reason for Lily’s early wake up: the fact that, for Lily and all of the other unfortunate souls who lived North of London, boarding the Hogwarts express required a lengthy drive in the wrong direction, because apparently magic trains couldn’t stop at more than one station. There were few things more pointless than a two and a half hour drive South to catch a train for a seven hour trip North.</p><p>“Honestly,” Lily huffed, forcing herself to sit up, “if that stupid train would just make more than one stop, I could sleep in until noon and still be on time. Stupid, ridiculous wizards and their stupid, ridiculous need to make everything more inefficient.”</p><p>“You tell ‘em, Lil,” said her best friend, Brigit, who had been staying with the Evanses since Friday, when her parents had left for a work conference in Asia. They had returned in the wee hours of the morning, just in time to see her off for her fifth year at school. Brigit was already showered and dressed, and was in the process of brushing her wet, curly hair before it dried enough that a brush would make it frizzy. Lily glared at her, yanking the hair tie out of her tangled mess of red hair. 

</p><p>“How do you always look so perfect so early in the morning?”</p><p>“It’s a gift,” said Brigit, slipping her neon purple brush into her bag and zipping it shut. She tossed her dark curls over her shoulder and slipped on her shoes, a pair of dark magenta heels that would have had Lily stumbling within seconds of putting them on— and Lily was no stranger to high heels. Despite the early hour, Bridget looked as glamorous and put-together as always. Her neatly tucked in magenta shirt perfectly matched her carefully polished shoes, and her five inch heels and black mini skirt showcased her long legs. Her dark hair was wet and glossy, and her chocolate colored eyes glimmered. Whoever had come up with the idea that brown hair and eyes were boring had clearly never seen Brigit O’Rourke, because she looked like she belonged on the front page of a magazine.</p><p>“I’m serious, Brig,” said Lily. “That kind of beauty at seven a.m. isn’t fair. Teach me your ways.”</p><p>“Well, the first step to looking this good is getting out of bed in the morning.”</p><p>“You lie!” Lily cried dramatically. “Nothing good could possibly come from getting out of bed before noon.”</p><p>Brigit patted Lily’s head and gave her a look of clearly fake sympathy. “Come on, lazy. The sun’s shining, the birds are chirping, and my dad is waiting outside. You know he’s very impatient.”</p><p>Lily scowled jealously at Brigit. It wasn’t fair that she had to spend two and a half hours driving to Kings Cross Station while Brigit and her father could floo to some five star café for the traditional O’Rourke family first day of school breakfast, floo home to Belfast, grab their things, floo back to London, and still arrive at the station before her.</p><p>“So leave,” said Lily. “I’m not stopping you.”</p><p>“Can’t. I told your parents I’d make sure you were up before I left.”</p><p>Lily gave a half-hearted glare as she stumbled out of bed. “Stupid, obnoxious morning person,” she complained. “I hate morning people. And mornings. And people.”</p><p>“You don’t mean that,” said Brigit. “Now hurry up and get ready. Your hair looks like a ginger mop head.”</p><p>“It does, doesn’t it,” she sighed. “Alright, I’m up. Get out of here. Go have your fancy, five star breakfast. Enjoy spending time with your rich parents and a sister that actually loves you. Just make sure you pay attention to the details. I need you to tell me all about it later so I can live vicariously through you.”</p><p>“You’re so melodramatic in the morning.”</p><p>“Are you implying that I’m not melodramatic in the afternoon? Because that’s very offensive. I’ll have you know that I’m melodramatic at all times of the day. I’m a very melodramatic person. I exude melodrama. It’s one of my best qualities.”</p><p>“You’re ridiculous. And I’m leaving. See you on the train, loser.”</p><p>“Bye, Brig,” said Lily. Brigit gave a quick wave as she slung her bag over her shoulder, and then left Lily’s room, closing the door behind her.</p><p>Lily glanced at the clock, and groaned. “7:12. Horrible. Absolutely horrible. Who even invented mornings?”</p><p>“Did you say something, dear?” Called her mother.</p><p>“No, Mum. Just getting in the shower.”</p><p>“Don’t take too long. We have to leave by a quarter after eight, and you still need to eat.”</p><p>“I won’t,” Lily called. She glanced forlornly in the mirror. ‘Ginger mop head indeed,’ she thought. She snatched her robe off its hook, grabbed her brush off the dresser, and headed down the hall to the bathroom.</p><p>********</p><p>One of the many unfairnesses of being a muggle born was that magic outside of school was easily detectable and, therefore, completely off-limits. In a magical household, it was hard to tell who was responsible for the spells cast. Brigit did magic outside of school all the time. Lily, however, did not have that luxury, which meant that the normal ten minute process of straightening her hair now involved twenty minutes with a blow dryer and a further thirty minutes with a straight iron.</p><p>The long process was worth it, determined Lily as she used a gold butterfly clip to hold back a strand of her chest-length dark red hair. Although it was unfortunate that she had no time left to eat.</p><p>“Lily, we’re leaving in five minutes,” called her dad. “Did you have breakfast yet?”</p><p>“I’ll eat in the car,” she shouted back, rushing to fasten her tie and pin her shiny new badge to her robes. As a prefect, Lily had to be in uniform by the time the train left. Unfortunately, the uniform, in addition to a collared white shirt and a red and gold striped tie, also consisted of plain black robes that she always worried would get her strange looks in muggle London. The robes weren't horrible, and, in fact, looked similar to an exceptionally long overcoat, apart from their looseness and inability to open below the ribcage, but Lily worried nonetheless.</p><p>Lily grabbed her bookbag, full of last minute things she hadn’t been able to pack until that morning and everything she wanted with her on the train, and scanned her room one last time for anything she may have forgotten. Satisfied that there was nothing left to pack, she rushed down the stairs. Her parents were busy loading her trunks into the car, and her sister, Petunia, was nowhere to be seen, which wasn’t much of a surprise. Petunia had hated Lily ever since she had found out that she was a witch, and now that she had graduated and found a job as a secretary for some marketing agency, she finally had an excuse not to go to the platform with the rest of the family to see her off.</p><p>“There’s a piece of toast on the counter for you, sweetheart,” said her mother, who had appeared in the doorway. “You can eat it in the car, we have to leave now. Is Severus coming with us?” Lily’s best friend, Severus Snape, only lived a few blocks away from the Evanses, and had accompanied them to the platform for the last three years.</p><p>“I don’t think so, Mum. He’s old enough for side-along now.” Side-along apparation, wherein wizards teleported from one spot to another and took someone along with them as they did so, was rumored to be a truly awful experience, and it was dangerous for children and young teenagers. Fifteen was generally the earliest age that it was considered safe, which meant that this was the first year Severus’s mother could take him to the platform herself, rather than requiring her husband or the Evanses to drive him. Lily would miss having the company in the car, but at least she would see him on the train.</p><p>Lily hadn’t shared a compartment with Severus since their first year. Both of them had found their own friends once they’d been sorted into different houses, and they had been drifting apart ever since. But now that they were both prefects, they would have a meeting together for the first half hour, and might even end up on patrols together for part of the trip.</p><p>‘Hopefully,’ thought Lily, making her way out to the car ‘things will be better for us this year.’ </p><p>********</p><p>It took Lily approximately ten minutes upon arrival at the platform to realize that things most definitely would not be better for them that year. </p><p>Lily and her parents arrived at platform 9 ¾ at a quarter to 11, and the three of them lingered together on the muggle side of the barrier to say goodbye. Lily’s parents hadn’t crossed over to the magical side in just over three years, not since Lily had returned home from her first year with a new understanding of magical xenophobia and the war that had plagued the U.K. for what was now approaching five years, and decided that her parents were safest if they were as uninvolved with her world as possible.</p><p>Her eyes were wet as she hugged her mother goodbye and gave her father a kiss on the cheek. As much as Lily loved Hogwarts, leaving her parents was always bittersweet. </p><p>“You’re sure you have everything?” asked her mother, fussing with Lily’s hair and wiping away a tear of her own. </p><p>“It’s too late now if I don’t, so I suppose I have to,” said Lily. She winced slightly as her mother’s silent tears turned into sobs. </p><p>“Mum, stop,” said Lily. “You’re going to make me cry.” </p><p>‘Crying would be bad,’ thought Lily. People would ask questions and judge her for being overemotional, and, more importantly, she was an ugly crier. Lily did not consider herself particularly vain, but no one wanted to ugly cry in public. Which, Lily noticed, was exactly what her mother was doing. Catherine Evans’s pale face was blotchy and wet and her bright blue eyes were red. She was sobbing quite noisily into a handkerchief, and Lily’s father was rubbing her back, mussing up her dark blonde hair in the process. Several passerby were staring, but that may have been due to the small black owl that was perched in the cage her father was holding rather than her mother’s tears. </p><p>“Are you sure you don’t want us to go with you onto the platform? You might need help with your stuff,” asked her father. He was more stoic than Lily’s mother, and was definitely the parent she took after more, both in looks and personality. His red hair had gone mostly gray and there were wrinkles around his green eyes, but the resemblance between the two of them was still clear. Like Lily, her father would never cry openly in public and wasn’t fond of emotional goodbyes, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t miss her, or that he wasn’t concerned. Lily had never told her parents the real reason she insisted they stay on the muggle side of the barrier. She didn’t want them to worry or ask her to leave the magical world behind. As far as they knew, Lily was just a typical teenager who didn’t want her parents to embarrass her in front of her friends.</p><p>“I’ll be fine, Daddy,” she promised. “And besides, you really need to leave. You have a meeting at two.” Basil Evans was technically self-employed, but as a barrister he still worked out of the house and met with clients on a regular basis. “Don’t be late because of me. I’ll feel bad.”</p><p>“Alright, we get the hint,” said her mother. “We’re leaving.” She gave Lily one last long hug, and her father gave her an awkward short side hug and handed her the cage containing her owl, Tut. The two of them left, and Lily turned to face the barrier, suddenly aware that the train was going to depart in ten minutes and she still had several trunks to load onboard.</p><p>Crossing onto the platform was an awkward and difficult affair. Lily held the cage in her left hand and pushed the trolley containing her luggage with her right. Her bookbag was slung over her shoulder, and Tut stuck his head through the bars of his cage and pecked at it. She swung the cage over the trolley and swapped hands so that she was holding it with her right instead. Tut squawked indignantly in protest. “Oh, shush,” she snapped, not in the mood to deal with her temperamental owl’s behavior. She glanced around her to see if any muggles were watching, then plowed through the barrier between platforms nine and ten, pushing the trolley in front of her as she went. Tut screeched in protest as they passed through.</p><p>The other side of the barrier was like another world. Platform 9 ¾ was, as always, in complete and utter chaos. Over four hundred students attended Hogwarts, and between them, their families, several rampant pets, and the dozen or so ministry officials shouting about regulations and the vileness of dark magic and warning people to watch out for various fugitive death eaters, the platform was a madhouse. It was loud and hectic and Lily struggled to push her way through the crowd to load her stuff into the storage compartments at the back of the train.  She also couldn’t help but notice several aurors dressed in red scattered across the platform as extra security due to the war. She was sure there were several more dressed in plain clothing and disguised among the crowd as well. Lily wondered if there were any hit wizards present. Two years ago, a team of them had blended into the crowd alongside the aurors and arrested a handful of death eaters who were dropping their children off for school. The train had left almost an hour late that year.</p><p>Lily reached the storage compartments with only seven minutes left to spare. She hoped levitation charms would go undetected on the platform, because there was no way she could lift all those trunks up herself. Suddenly, she felt someone grab her shoulder. Lily whirled, heart leaping and hand reaching for her wand, but relaxed just as quickly when she realized who it was.</p><p>“Sev!” she exclaimed, throwing her arms around him for a quick, tight hug that nearly knocked him off his feet. She pulled back and beamed brightly at him, eyes traveling to the prefect’s badge already pinned to his robes. “I’m so happy that we’re both prefects,” she told him. “I hope we have patrols together.” </p><p>“Me too,” said Sev, giving her a little half smile, which was the most anyone ever seemed to get out of him. “And even if we don’t, we’ll still TA together, right?”</p><p>Lily had completely forgotten about the plan they had made back in second year to TA together for the potions teacher, Professor Slughorn, as soon as they were old enough. “Of course,” she agreed, quickly warming to the idea. “We'll talk to him about it tomorrow.”</p><p>The train conductor called out a five minute warning. “Can you help me with my things? I sort of overslept and now I’m running super late.”</p><p>Together, they grabbed hold of her first trunk and lifted it into storage, and then did the same with the second. The third proved to be more difficult. Neither of them were even remotely athletic by any stretch of the imagination, and that was the trunk with all of her books, her cauldron, and her telescope for astronomy. </p><p>Lily was really beginning to worry, when a voice behind her asked, “need a hand?” Lily was torn between dread and relief when she turned to find James Potter standing behind her. </p><p>The two of them weren’t exactly what Lily would have called friends. Friendly rivals was a better term for it. Although they belonged to the same general friend group, they didn’t spend enough time together without several other friends present to ever really bond, and they were both strong personalities that tended to grate on each other's nerves. Lily viewed James as too arrogant, and James saw her as too uptight. The fact that James and Severus had hated each other since first year also hadn’t helped. </p><p>The most important factor in their relationship, however, had always been grades. The two of them had been the top students of their year ever since they’d started at Hogwarts. They vied for the number one spot constantly. The rivalry had, however, sparked some extent of friendship. They had maintained the agreement for as long as they had been rivals that, although they competed against each other, the top two spots belonged to them and no one else. It wasn’t as much of an ego boost to beat someone who lost to other people. As a result, they had tutored each other on several occasions. It didn’t always work-- Severus topped them both in potions and usually bumped Lily down to third in defense, while James’s best friend Sirius typically took the second spot for transfiguration, where he beat Lily, and astronomy, where he beat James. Regardless, the overall top two spots had never gone to anyone else.</p><p>Severus bristled angrily at James, who glared at him with disdain. It wasn’t a surprise. The relationship between James and Severus made James and Lily seem like best friends in comparison. </p><p>Normally, she wouldn’t have accepted his offer of help. However, they were approaching three minutes and Lily and Severus really didn’t have the time or the strength to do it themselves. “Grab and lift,” she told him. Severus stepped away, glaring. Clearly, he would not work alongside James. It was lucky, then, that they managed without him. It also made him look even angrier, if that was possible. </p><p>“No prefect’s badge,” she noted, vaguely surprised, as the three of them hurried onto the train. James was a troublemaker extraordinaire, but he was still responsible when it mattered, with good grades and a way of making other people listen to him. He was the most logical choice, and she had resigned herself to the fact that he would be the male Gryffindor prefect for their year over the summer.</p><p>“You mean hallway babysitter?” Scoffed James. Lily rolled her eyes at the nickname. Next to her, Severus was starting to turn puce. “I talked to Cartwright at the end of last year and asked not to be, remember? Remus got it instead.” Now that he had mentioned it, she did remember him approaching their head of house and herbology professor at the end of fourth year and asking to be taken out of the running. She had thought he was crazy at the time-- still did, really.</p><p>“Lily,” said Severus, ignoring James’s presence. “We’ll be late.” He was right. Of course he was right. They only had two minutes left before the start of the prefect’s meeting.</p><p>“Right,” said Lily. She turned to James and asked, hesitantly, “any chance you could take Tut and my bag to Brigit?” </p><p>James nodded. “Sure,” he said, and she handed both over. </p><p>“Thanks, James,” she replied, relieved to not have to bring her owl to her first ever prefect’s meeting. “Come on,” she told Severus, taking off towards the prefect’s compartment, but, despite the fact that he was the one who insisted they leave, he didn’t seem particularly eager to follow. </p><p>“What was that?” He asked, trudging sullenly behind her.</p><p>“What was what?”</p><p>“You and Potter. Are you friends?” His tone was a weird mix of anger and disgust and something else she couldn’t quite place.</p><p>“Not really. But we needed help and he offered. And I didn’t want to be that one person who brought their owl to the prefect’s meeting.” She said the last part jokingly, but Severus didn’t smile.</p><p>“Stay away from him, Lily,” he said, and she felt affronted. They were outside the prefect’s compartment now, with less than a minute before the meeting was set to start.</p><p>“And what makes you think you get to decide who I hang out with?” Her voice was colder and angrier than she’d meant it to be, and Severus’s face looked as though he’d been slapped. </p><p>“I just-- you can’t-- it’s Potter!” He spluttered. “You know what he’s like.”</p><p>“Yes, I do. And if I hang around him, not that I’m planning on it, that’s my choice. Not yours.” He stared, and she locked her gaze with his, daring him to challenge her. “Now come on,” she snapped, throwing his earlier words back at him. “We’ll be late.” She stalked angrily into the prefect’s compartment, and Severus followed, clearly fuming. And if she happened to sit between Remus and a Ravenclaw just so he couldn’t sit next to her, it wasn’t because she was being petty-- really, it wasn’t. Severus loudly slamming the compartment door shut behind him, though, that, she decided, was definitely petty. </p><p>So was the fact that the two of them didn’t speak to each other for the rest of the day.</p>
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